FYI with the stock firmware the POWER OUTPUT on this wireless router can be configured to 200mW (comes programmed at 80mW).

With the AC version you can crank it to 500mW in the stock firmware. I've done a test with both maxxed out in the same home and it does make a huge difference. Perhaps the DDWRT firmware allows this unit to be 500mW also

We have one of these in a public hotspot environment and often 100-150 users are on at a time. The performance is phenomenal. If you're on the fence about buying at this price point, jump on it.

I did. Had been running Tomato on the N16. Went with Asus firmware for the 66 and I am very pleased. Range is excellent. Have had it around 3 weeks or so and I am glad I made the switch. I also have a USB HDD attached to it using it for a NAS. HD 1080P media plays perfectly.

Trying to resist an urge to upgrade from super-stable and otherwise functional RT-N16. This doesn't help

QOS is available on a per device or per application basis but I don't think I've ever seen the ability to hard-cap a devices bandwidth, nor am I sure why you would want or need to limit bandwidth to devices when there is nothing else using the bandwidth . QOS is for prioritizing, not capping. If you have the bandwidth available, why would you not want to use it?

Help me understand how/why you would spend $100, yet alone $180 on a router? Yeah it's dual band but so what?

I just can't understand how Asus/Cisco can charge so much for a router with such limited hardware (limited CPU/memory/flash, no usb3.0, etc).

IMHO, its better to get two routers if your looking for better coverage (connected via a wire, wds or Ethernet over powerline). Add a $15-20 PogoPlug running ArchLinuxArm, for NAS, SSH, VPN, Torrent, AirPlay/AirPrint and other things you wish could run on your router but can't because its underpowered.

Help me understand how/why you would spend $100, yet alone $180 on a router? Yeah it's dual band but so what?

I just can't understand how Asus/Cisco can charge so much for a router with such limited hardware (limited CPU/memory/flash, no usb3.0, etc).

IMHO, its better to get two routers if your looking for better coverage (connected via a wire, wds or Ethernet over powerline). Add a $15-20 PogoPlug running ArchLinuxArm, for NAS, SSH, VPN, Torrent, AirPlay/AirPrint and other things you wish could run on your router but can't because its underpowered.

Cause I am able to stream movies from outside my network using AiCloud on my ipad. I am able to wake on lan from outside my network. Able to stream full rip blu ray from the hard drive to xmbc. I was never able to do any of these things with my previous router. The range on this router is amazing. Was not able to get full speed on my Asus zenbook (blaming the wireless card on the notebook) but with this router I am seeing 150Mbps. I purchase this router for $125.00. If I knew what a big diff a router make I wouldve spent 150-200

The current Apple Airport Extreme 5th generation (Model A1408) used to be the best router on the market. It was my favorite router for about a year.
If you look at specifications, this is no longer the case especially compared to this ASUS.
I'm hoping Apple refreshes the Airport Extreme lineup in 2013 to stay on top.

One of the biggest shockers about the Airport Extreme is how poorly it performs with VOIP.
A $200 router WITHOUT any form of Quality-Of-Service (QOS)?

There's just one downside, while the Asus hardware is excellent, the Asus firmware is not. It is pretty easy to flash the RT N16 with the fantastic open-source TomatoUSB firmware. Tomato is incredibly feature filled and very stable. There are great versions of Tomato for this router.http://tomatousb.org/

So if you're not adverse to flashing the firmware, the RT N16 (flashed to Tomato) is a great product.

There's just one downside, while the Asus hardware is excellent, the Asus firmware is not. It is pretty easy to flash the RT N16 with the fantastic open-source TomatoUSB firmware. Tomato is incredibly feature filled and very stable. There are great versions of Tomato for this router.http://tomatousb.org/

So if you're not adverse to flashing the firmware, the RT N16 (flashed to Tomato) is a great product.

I can't seem to pull trigger on rt66 at this price point hdd or not. Sticking to dir 655 until the same goes down to rt16 levels. I am a value early adopter, aka true sd'er.

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